The Note: Donald Trump's Family Ties

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.

December 21, 2016

MORE POLITICS >

Donald Trump's Family Ties

Trump Team Distances Family From Conservation Fundraiser

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is distancing the Trump family from a fundraiser scheduled for Inauguration Weekend organized by a nonprofit appearing to offer access to the president in exchange for donations. As ABC's BENJAMIN SIEGEL reports, the Jan. 21 conservation fundraiser, of which Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are honorary co-chairmen, was planning to offer private receptions with Trump in exchange for $1 million contributions to the nonprofit Opening Day Foundation, according to an initial brochure first reported by TMZ and confirmed by ABC News. http://abcn.ws/2h8uM9C

Analysis--ABC's Rick Klein

Twice in the last week, access to Donald Trump's children has literally been put up for sale. Both times, those sales were canceled, or at least scaled back, following public scrutiny. But the process that allowed those offerings to go forward at all -- an auction for coffee with Ivanka, and a hunting trip with the two eldest Trump sons for big inauguration donors -- suggests something in the territory of chaos and/or indifference inside the president-elect's inaugural planning. These are the sorts of arrangements that should set off bright red flags -- particularly after a campaign where the Clintons were accused of all manner of pay-for-play arrangements. The Trump operation has done virtually nothing to specify its safeguards, even while new arrangements testing any planned boundaries pop up. One good way to ensure that individuals and companies don't try to buy access and influence? Don't offer it to them.

Search Warrant Related to Clinton Emails Unsealed

The search warrant that authorized the FBI, near the end of the 2016 election, to examine a laptop computer in connection with Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state was released Tuesday. The warrant for former Rep. Anthony Weiner's computer includes a standard form cover sheet with check boxes to indicate the basis for the search. Boxes have been marked stating there is "evidence of a crime" and "contraband, fruits of a crime, or other items illegally possessed." Though these are standard forms in criminal investigations, this case and the timing of these events was anything but standard. ABC's JACK DATE and GENEVA SANDS have more: http://abcn.ws/2hnu4TL

Obama Moves to Ban Drilling Indefinitely in Parts of Arctic, Atlantic Oceans

In an effort to provide long-lasting protection to fragile Arctic ecosystems, President Obama has enacted an expansive, permanent ban on oil and gas leasing in several Arctic and Atlantic Ocean areas. ABC's SERENA MARSHALL notes. The president has designated a large portion of the U.S. Chukchi Sea and the vast majority of the U.S. Beaufort Sea as permanently off-limits to drilling leases, saying the risks far outweigh any possible, distant-future benefits. "The risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region's harsh conditions is limited," the President said in a statement. http://abcn.ws/2hR4GXF

Schumer to Trump: Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan 'Sounds Good to Me'

Incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says he likes the sound of President-elect Trump's proposal of a major infrastructure plan as long as it meets certain Democratic criteria. "We think it should be large. He's mentioned a trillion dollars, I told him that sounded good to me," Schumer told ABC's Jon Karl and Rick Klein during their podcast "Powerhouse Politics." But Democrats will insist that the package not be, for example, all tax breaks to investors. ABC's ALI ROGIN has more: http://abcn.ws/2h0hvwF